Changing characteristics of hospital admissions but not the children admitted—a whole population study between 2000 and 2013

Funding: The data were hosted in the safe haven thanks to funding by the FARR institution. Open Access via Springer Compact Agreement.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Minors for alternating dimaps

We develop a theory of minors for alternating dimaps --- orientably embedded digraphs where, at each vertex, the incident edges (taken in the order given by the embedding) are directed alternately into, and out of, the vertex. We show that they are related by the triality relation of Tutte. They do not commute in general, though do in many circumstances, and we characterise the situations where they do. The relationship with triality is reminiscent of similar relationships for binary functions, due to the author, so we characterise those alternating dimaps which correspond to binary functions. We give a characterisation of alternating dimaps of at most a given genus, using a finite set of excluded minors. We also use the minor operations to define simple Tutte invariants for alternating dimaps and characterise them. We establish a connection with the Tutte polynomial, and pose the problem of characterising universal Tutte-like invariants for alternating dimaps based on these minor operations.Comment: 51 pages, 7 figure

Estimate for the fractal dimension of the Apollonian gasket in d dimensions

We adapt a recent theory for the random close packing of polydisperse spheres in three dimensions [R. S. Farr and R. D. Groot, J. Chem. Phys. {\bf 131} 244104 (2009)] in order to predict the Hausdorff dimension $d_{A}$ of the Apollonian gasket in dimensions 2 and above. Our approximate results agree with published values in $2$ and $3$ dimensions to within $0.05$ and $0.6$ respectively, and we provide predictions for dimensions $4$ to $8$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Fractal space frames and metamaterials for high mechanical efficiency

A solid slender beam of length $L$, made from a material of Young's modulus $Y$ and subject to a gentle compressive force $F$, requires a volume of material proportional to $L^{3}f^{1/2}$ [where $f\equiv F/(YL^{2})\ll 1$] in order to be stable against Euler buckling. By constructing a hierarchical space frame, we are able to systematically change the scaling of required material with $f$ so that it is proportional to $L^{3}f^{(G+1)/(G+2)}$, through changing the number of hierarchical levels $G$ present in the structure. Based on simple choices for the geometry of the space frames, we provide expressions specifying in detail the optimal structures (in this class) for different values of the loading parameter $f$. These structures may then be used to create effective materials which are elastically isotropic and have the combination of low density and high crush strength. Such a material could be used to make light-weight components of arbitrary shape.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure